Just inside the leafy cover of the De Schorre Park forest, seven friendly giants stand constant guard, greeting visitors and keeping watch over the lush, green landscape. These enormous figures range from 23 to 59 feet long, but what makes them truly unique is that they are crafted entirely from discarded, recycled wood.
Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo has a gift for taking “trash” and turning it into inspiring works of art. His project, “The 7 Trolls and The Magical Tower,” at De Schorre Park in Boom, Belgium, was commissioned by the Tomorrowland Festival as a way to showcase the beauty of nature and respect for the planet’s natural resources.
Dambo describes the purpose behind his art this way: “I hope to lure people away from concrete cities and computer screens, into the wild and reconnect them with the natural world. I build all my enormous sculptures of recycled materials to show the potential in this precious material, which is often discarded and becomes a threat to the natural world.”
Each of Dambo’s giant trolls is handcrafted from pallets, dead branches, discarded shelves and other material that would have otherwise been wasted. It took over 200 people to help gather the wood to build the seven giants. They can be seen throughout the forest – some resting, some appearing to do chores.
Dambo hopes that his sculptures inspire imagination and evoke a sense of whimsy for people of all ages. He says, “Since I was a child, I always loved to hear different fairytales and folklore stories, and dream myself away into magical worlds filled with dragons and trolls.” Visitors can explore the enchanted forest and come face-to-face with Dambo’s trolls as part of the festival’s 15th-anniversary celebration.